As it stands, this old Christmas Mumming Play (which seems to have borrowed the name of an Easter Entertainment or Pasque Egg) is not fit for domestic performance; and though probably there are few nurseries in those parts of England where "mumming" and the sword-dance still linger, in which the children do not play some version of

As it stands, this old Christmas Mumming Play (which seems to have borrowed the name of an Easter Entertainment or Pasque Egg) is not fit for domestic performance; and though probably there are few nurseries in those parts of England where "mumming" and the sword-dance still linger, in which the children do not play some version of St. George's exploits, a little of the dialogue goes a long way, and the mummery

However for the purposes of this column, I am going to focus on the extraordinary work of his brother Dara Vallely, also a painter but better known as the founder of the Armagh Rhymers, who are carrying on an ancient tradition of masked 'mumming' that is mentioned in the Táin Bó Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and is even depicted in the prehistoric cave paintings of south-west France.